“Try to escape and we’ll kill him first and then it will be your turn. We got plenty of backup waiting for you ahead. Give us Phloria Ernas and maybe you will live.” The Ghoul said while choking his prisoner.
“What a load of bullshit.” Phloria sneered, forcing her voice through the grip that almost kept her from breathing. “You don’t want to kill any of us. What kind of deal do you have with Deirus?”
“How do you know about it?” The Ghoul was so flabbergasted that he blurted out the truth.
“Oh, please, I’m not stupid. The undead from two days ago attacked to kill and had allies whereas you act alone and wasted your time talking. You clearly belong to a different group.
“Only Velan Deirus would be so crazy to put everything he has at risk and mobilize a bunch of immortal worms just to get his hands on a 21 years old woman. By the way, I’m Phloria, jackass.” She said.
“Thanks, this will make everything easier. You’re right about almost everything. He didn’t send us to capture you, but to kill all the three of you. A child in exchange for a child. Plus interest.” The Ghoul said imitating Velan’s voice.
Phloria cursed her naivety, wishing that the Ghoul was lying about the backup so that her sisters would manage to escape. Her windpipe started to deform under the increasing pressure and her lungs burned.
“Objection!” An annoying voice drew everyone’s attention to the north corner of the tunnel while its owner Blinked behind the Ghoul and cut off both his arms at the same time with what looked like two one-handed sickles.
“I called dibs on the little one. I will not let months of hard work go to waste because of a few cannibalistic jerks.” Morok Eari, ex-Ranger of the Hessar region and Quylla’s suitor without her knowing, didn’t change much from the time they parted ways.
He was a man in his mid-twenties, about 1.8 meters (5’11”) tall, with black hair and dark brown eyes. His once unkempt hair was now finely groomed and his stubble had grown into a goatee.
Morok didn’t care much for appearances, but he didn’t want to look like a hobo when meeting Quylla again. According to his employer, lack of personal hygiene was a deal-breaker for most women.
“You again?” Quylla said without knowing whether to be relieved or worried by his arrival.
“Did you miss me, baby?” Since the Ghoul’s arms had turned into ashes but their owner was still alive, Morok stabbed his chest and head with the sickles, flooding them with darkness magic.
Pain twisted the undead’s face and then there was nothing left to twist.
Phloria took a deep breath to overcome the blinding pain from her wounds and recalled Reaver to her left hand, the only arm she could still move after the Ghoul had dislocated her dominant arm.
The moment Morok had appeared, the Ghouls had resumed their attack. There were quite a few left of them and their seamless teamwork gave them the upper hand. Phloria was half dead, Friya was running on fumes, and from such a distance Quylla was useless.
One Ghoul engaged Morok, keeping him busy thanks to her own dual-wielding style and her one-handed battle hammers that locked the sickles in place. Another one darted at Phloria for the kill while the others aimed at Quylla, the weakest link, and the last one called for backup.
“Code red. Repeat, code red!” The undead yelled inside his communication amulet.
Between her injured arm and almost being strangled, Phloria had lost her focus and with it all the spells she had at the ready. With Morok too busy to protect her, she had no chance of victory against a Ghoul.
‘I need to stall for time. I should still have enough mana to activate the Skinwalker armor a few times and use first magic.’ She thought as the undead circled around her so fast that her eyes saw him only as a blur.
Phloria spun around like a top, trying to follow the enemy movements. The Ghoul used his short-sword to deflect Reaver while the other blade lunged at her brain. Phloria grit her teeth, raising her right hand and releasing a volley of darkness spells.
The Ghoul took the hits with a confident smile and continued his attack. Her magic holding rings were long since empty, and with her body as broken as her arm, Phloria was akin to a cornered mouse attempting its last bite.
Or so he thought until her right hand deflected his blade and the darkness spells she had conjured destroyed his heart. Unlike fake mages, a true mage could always turn first magic spells into their more powerful version.
By stimulating their mana core, an Awakened was capable of upgrading their spells up to tier three if necessity arose. The only downside was that it cost a lot of mana because low tiered spells weren’t meant to hold such prowess and needed to be stabilized.
Morok had no time to lose and dead men told no tales. He used the Ghoul as a cover while he shapeshifted into his Tyrannical Eye form and activated the black eye on his forehead.
The small pillar of darkness destroyed her head, leaving her blind and deaf long enough for Morok to kill her quickly. The ex-Ranger wasn’t a normal man, but the offspring of a human and an Emperor Beast known as Tyrannical Eye or Tyrant.
When he had come of age, he had abandoned his human nature just like his own mother had abandoned him. Thanks to his father’s help, it didn’t take him long to learn how to shapeshift with light magic.
Unlike magical beasts, however, the human appearance he took wasn’t idealized, but an exact copy of the body he was born with. He shapeshifted back into his human form to not scare Quylla and Blinked to the save.
“How can you be so slow, child?” An annoyed voice said.
It was deep and strong, echoing in the tunnels akin to a war cry even though the voice was barely a whisper. The undead who were already in front of the two Ernas sisters tried to halt their advance, but even their reflexes weren’t enough.
A hulking figure pushed the two humans to the side and swung his blade, cutting the undead down like grass. Even being cut in half wasn’t a problem for a Ghoul, unless the wound was flooded with Chaos magic, of course.
The remaining undead was outside the blade’s reach, so the newcomer unleashed a barrage of tier one Chaos bullets that riddled him with holes even though he had already started to merge with the rock to escape.
Only Phloria witnessed the slaughter because her sisters were unable to avert their gaze from their savior. The creature was 2.74 meters (9′) tall, with the head of a bull, the upper body of a bulky man, and the lower body resembled that of a bull, but capable of moving on two legs.
The Ernas sisters had never seen before a weapon like that he wielded on his right hand. It looked like a great sword, but instead of a hilt, it had a gauntlet integrated as a handguard.
The design of the pata was foreign to them as much as the purple runes and mana crystals decorating the full length of the weapon.
